


Relentless Sunshine

by starfishstar



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, small bright moments in dark times
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-23
Updated: 2015-08-23
Packaged: 2018-04-16 20:22:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4638936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starfishstar/pseuds/starfishstar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, the young have wisdom for the old. A rare sunny moment in the Order of the Phoenix.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Relentless Sunshine

**Author's Note:**

> For the RS Games’ ficlet activity; I’m not even playing in the Games this year, but I can never seem to resist a prompt. Mine was Mad-Eye Moody + Lily Evans Potter + the phrase “relentless sunshine.” (And yes, I realized belatedly I’d read the prompting chart wrong, and my secondary character was supposed to be Albus Dumbledore, not Lily. Oh well, at least he got a mention in the fic!)

 

“This relentless sunshine,” Mad-Eye Moody grunted, thumping his whole body down on the topmost of the three stone steps that led down from the back door of the house to the garden. He shoved his wooden leg out in front of him at an angle that wasn’t much less painful than standing on it had been. “My eye wasn’t made for light this bright.” His magical eye spun in its socket even as he said it.

From the other side of the wide stone step, Lily Potter smiled over at him. “But the sun feels nice otherwise, doesn’t it?” she said. “It’s been such a wet, dreary spring. I’m inclined to take any sunshine we can get, even if it does seem to have arrived all at once.”

Moody looked across at her. His magical eye was still rolling, and he gave his head an emphatic shake to stop its movement. The over-bright sun caught on the gold band on Lily Potter’s finger, and Moody eyed it mistrustfully. James Potter had acquitted himself well enough in the Order so far, that had to be said, but the boy was very young. For that matter, so was the girl.

The girl in question tucked one knee up under her chin, unconsciously underscoring the impression of extreme youth. “Nice to get together for something other than war planning and funerals isn’t it?” she murmured, her gaze cast out over the green and untamed garden, where Dorcas Meadowes and a few of the other young ones were still tidying up. 

At the moment, Dorcas was laughing at something James Potter had said, as he and Sirius Black used their wands to shrink the long garden tables back into the small benches they had been before the party.

Watching them, Lily smiled fondly, then laughed. “You know, I ought to thank Dorcas for having a June birthday! Mine’s in January and James’ in March, neither of which particularly sets the mood for a garden party.”

Remus Lupin, seeing Lily laughing in their direction, raised a hand in a little wave. He was crouched by the small garden pond, wand in hand, wrestling with a goldfish of unusually large and recently acquired proportions – Black had denied responsibility for the fish’s change in state, which was generally a good indicator that it had been him. The fish slipped from Lupin’s hand once again, and Lily Potter giggled.

Well. Perhaps Dumbledore had been right after all, in his gentle but firm rebuttal when Moody voiced his objections to the very idea of this party, held out of doors, even if it was in a heavily protected garden. Perhaps the young ones needed something cheerful in their lives, to balance out the bleakness of the war.

“Oh, don’t look so worried, Mad-Eye!” Lily Potter burst out, the bright sound of her voice startling his thoughts. “We’re being vigilant, I promise. Look.” A wave of her arm encompassed the garden. “Everyone here’s got a wand close at hand. Em and Pete are sitting watch outside. And Dorcas has had a lovely day, you can tell, and that counts for something too, doesn’t it?”

Lily Potter was nineteen years old. She knew so little of the world and the dangers it would hold for her. Even as a Muggle-born witch in a wizarding world under attack, even as a member of the Order of the Phoenix, there was so much she still didn’t know. And yet…and yet.

Moody shrugged his shoulders. “Perhaps,” he grunted, trying in vain to stretch his leg in a way that didn’t cramp his hip, then giving it up again. “Just see you keep that wand with you all the time. Not just at the times when you most think you need it.”

“Yes, all right,” she said, and there was a fond smile in her voice. Moody glanced over at her, askance. She patted one hand against the wand at her hip. “I promise. Constant vigilance. Now, I’m going to get another piece of cake, before Sirius steals it all. Can I get you anything?”

Moody shook his head, and Lily leapt lightly down from the step to the garden. He watched her thread her way through the flowering plants, at ease amidst their bright colours and the laughter of her friends. He saw her lean close to James Potter and whisper something; he saw how Potter lit up with happiness when she came near.

Moody thumped his wooden leg against the stone step and muttered to himself, “Yeah, all right. I see your point.”

 


End file.
